http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022305800 This is my response to you you worthless oxygen thieving b@stards..
What type of person does it take to be a sniper? Someone who works well under pressure. Someone who can be depended on to make the right call in a stressful situation. Someone who can look through a high powered scope and be willing to pull the trigger to knowingly kill a human being to save the lives of other people.
Snipers rarely get called on to do their primary mission, which is to kill an enemy quickly, efficiently, and with maximum pyschological impact on a large group of enemies. All this does is save American lives. you know, the ones you are SUPPOSED to be concerned about. but it also saves lives of the civilian population.
Which do YOU think is a more effective way to deal with the a$$hole who doesn't give a f$%K about the local people and shoots at them indescriminately (e.g. TERRORISTS, those a$$holes you love so much)? Dropping a 2,000 lb. JDAM on his head? or Precision application of a 175-grain BTHP to either Hydraulically decompress or terminally incapacitate the aforementioned a$$sholes that you love so much?
Snipers save lives, and are considered to be some of the best soldiers in any Infantry Battalion. Yes they have to be a good shot, but they also have to be able to find their target without being seen. And they have to know a $hit ton of math, what do you think external ballistics are? Oh wait, you don't know, don't care, but it must be EVIL. Because it is something pertaining to a weapon.
I had the privilege of working at the 7th annual United States Army International Sniper Competition. All of the competitors, from the kid who had just graduated sniper school 2 months prior and was in the team that came in last place, to SFC Jason St. John and SFC Robby Johnson from the Army Marksmanship Unit who won the competition for the second year in a row, considered it to be some of the best training they had ever had.
http://www.army.mil/article/13661/marksmanship-unit-first-to-win-sniper-competition-two-years-in-row/ Finally, I give the examples most in the SOF community and Airborne community consider to be what a soldier should be like: MSG Randy Schugart and SFC Gary Gordon. Both of these men were Snipers who were flying aerial cover in Mogadishu during operation Gothic Serpent, more commonly known to the public as the "Black Hawk Down" mission. They asked, ASKED, THREE TIMES before they were given permission to insert to go after the crew of Super 64. They inserted into a city of THOUSANDS of people who wanted them dead, all to see if there was anyone alive, and to keep them alive until backup could make it. They did this willingly, to try and ensure that their comrades would survive. They now stand guard at the gates of heaven, welcoming their latest brother into the fold, SEAL Chris Kyle.
http://www.history.army.mil/html/moh/somalia.html Long and the short of it, what type of person does it take to be a sniper? Someone who is selfless, someone who does it KNOWING what they will be called on to do, and STILL does it.
Someone who is a better person than you will EVER BE...(>>>>>> Typed by a graduate of the U.S. Army Sniper School, Class 1-10)